Originally posted by justwokeup
reply to post by Mdv2
Look at the demographic projections for europe. Ageing declining populations all around. Crippling social care costs that will only
increase.
This is a view I hear quite a lot irl, but imo its overly simplistic. Other factors to consider are 1st the 800lb gorilla in the
international room which is that the "sub-prime mortgage crisis" was not an accident, it was nothing less than deliberate economic warfare waged by
the USA with the express intention of preventing the Euro from gaining further ground against the US$ as an international reserve currency, driving
the US$ down in relative value & prompting grave fears of inflation within the USA. It was partially successful, but only partially, for another
reason which is rarely discussed: the Eurozone runs a small trade surplus, thus
could actually pay its debts, should it become necessary to
bail some of the more poorly performing economies out with the slush fund created for that purpose & the Eurozone could withstand the kind of
inflation that may result. Whereas the USA runs a massive trade deficit & thus cannot pay its debts, nor withstand much inflation.
I agree that, having defrauded Europe so egregiously, the USA would be wise to look to the Far East, b/c they'll certainly not get a chance to pull
off a scam like that again in Europe! The trouble is that I just cant see the good ol' US public standing for the kind of political concessions the
BRIC nations are going to want in return for economic cooperation with the USA. As much as, from the options available, Obama was the man for the job,
no amount of smiling & behaving respectfully is going to cut any ice with the likes of Vladimir Putin, Hu Jintao, etc. Also, as much as the
sabre-rattling over North Korea may distract the US public, no world leaders are concerned about much other than oil & what currency its sold for.
. No worries, i fall prey to that exact same condition some days ;-)